Means and method of cooling internal-combustion engines



1,625,737 April 19, 1927. w. w. Mum

MEANS AND METHOD OF COOLING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed M 120, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W WMu/ir Inventor A itorn ril 19 1927. AP w. w. MUlR MEANS AND METHOD OF COOLING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Nov. 0, 1922 Sheets-Sheet 2 W W M uir Inventor Attorney Patented Apr. 19, 1927.

UNITED STATES WELLINGTON W. MUIR, OF LOCKPORT, NEW YORK;

MEANS AND METHOD OF COOLING INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES;

Application filed November 20, 1922. Serial No. 602,267.

This inventionrelates-to cooling systems for an internal combustion engine, and to a method of operating the same, and has for its object to provide an apparatus and procedure which will be comparatively inerpensive to manufacture and more efficient in operation than those which have been heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts constituting the apparatus, and in the novel steps and combinations of steps constituting the process, all as will be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views: V

Figure 1 is a side elevational View partially in section of an apparatus made in accordance with this invention; and

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of the somewhat modified form of the inventlon.

1 indicates a jacket, 2 a pipe leading from said jacket to a radiator 3, 4 a tank at the lower portion of the radiator, 5 a connection with said tank 2, and 6 an additional tank or reservoir adapted 'to hold enough liquid to fill the entire system. 7 indicates a pump immersed in the liquid in said tank 6, 8 the driving shaft of said pump, 9 the intake of said pump and 10 a pipe leading from the pressure side of the pump back to the jacket 1. Said pipe 10 preferably extends through the top portion of the jacket and is provided with numerous delivery ports 11 as indicated. The bottom of the jacket 1 is provided with an opening 13 controlled by a valve 15 which latter is controlled by a thermostatic bellows like device 16, housed in a casing 17, which latter is provided with a plurality of openings 18 permitting said casing 17 to communicate with the interior of the jacket 1, all as will be clear from the drawings. The valved cont-rolled port opening 13 is connected with the valve chamber 19, and pipe 20, which leads to near the bottom of the tank 6, as shown, and said tank 6 is provided with afilling means 21, which limits the level of the liquid in said tank 6.

in Figure 1. But, the pump 25 in said Figure 2 is not located in the tank 26 but is located outside thereof, and said tank 26 is connected by the passage 27 to the chamber 28, which in turn is connected to the suction side of said pump 25, while the delivery s1de of said pump is connected by the pipe 30 to the jacket 1, as shown.

The passage 27 is connected by the port 31 to the chamber 28 and said port 31 is controlled by the valve 32, which valve is in turn controlled by the thermostatic bellows device Said bellows device is in turn controlled by the pipe 34 connected with the thermostatic bulb 35 located within the jacket 1, and therefore sensitive to changes in temperature of the liquid in said jacket.

The said jacket 1 further communicates with the chamber 36, provided with the thermostatic bellows device 38 controlling the valve 39, which in turn controls the connection 40 between said chamber 36 and the said pipe 5 leading into the tank 26.

The operation of the device shown in Figure 1 is as follows The engine being started, and the thermostat 16 being so set as to keep the valve 15 open when the temperature of the jacket liquid is below, say, 140 F., and to close when said temperature rises above that point, the liquid will be drawn from the tank 6 by the pump 7 and delivered in the jacket 1, whence it will pass on down through port 13 and pipe 20 back into the tank 6, until its temperature rises above 140 F. due to the heat liberated from the combustion chambers. When said last named temperature has been exceeded, the valve 15 will close, the jacket will readily fill with liquid, and owing to the higher temperature and to the pressure exerted therein by the oncoming liquid through the pipe 10 from the force side of the pump, surplus liquid will now be forced out through the pipe 2, through the radiator 3, and pipe 5 back into tank 6. This circulation of liquid will continue until the temperature of the j aeket falls below 140 F., when the valve 15 will open and empty the jacket, thus cutting oil the supply of cooled liquid from the radiator. This opening of the valve 15 will thus permit the liquid to again heat up to a point above 140 F., whereupon the valve 15 will again close, and the surplus In the somewhat modified form of the invention shown in Figure 2, similar parts are designated by the same numerals. as those heat will again be dissipated through radiator 3. Is should be stated that the radiator 3 is of a. sufiicient capacity to cool the circulating 1i uid' well below any temperature it is desire to automatically maintain in the jacket.

The operation of the modified form of device shown in Figure 2 is substantially the same as that. just described, but two thermostats 33 and 38 being employed, said operation may be specifically described as follows:

The thermostat 38 is so set that when the liquid is below a temperature of say 140 F. its valve 39 is open and when it is above said temperature said valve is closed. 011 the other hand, the thermostat 33 is so set that when the temperature is below 140 F., the valve 32 will be closed. The engine being started and the temperature of the liquid in the tank 26 being below 140 F., no liquid can be passed in the acket, be cause said valve 32 is closed. Accordingly, the jacket will rapidly heat up, and through the expansion of the liquid in bulb 35, said valve 32 will open, thus permitting the pump 25 to pass liquid through pi e 30 into the acket until said liquid itsel rises to a temperature above 140 F. When this occurs, the valve 39 will close, and the acket itself be filled with liquid. The continued action of the pump 25 will now force liquid out of said jacket, through pipe 2,radiator 3, and pipe 5 back into said tank 26. The surplus heat being thus dissipated as before, the cooled liquid will continue to be circulated through said radiator until the jacket temperature falls below the predetermined temperature of 140 F. \Vhen this occurs, the valve 32 will again close and the valve 39 open, so that the liquid will rapidly drain from the jacket 1 past the valve 3.9 and through the connection 40 back into said tank 26.

It will thus be seen that in both forms of the invention, both the jacket and the radiator are empty of liquid when the temperature is below a predetermined degree, so that the radiator can not freeze, and the jacket can be heated up and the en ine started in a minimum of time. It will lurther be observed that in Figure 1, only one thermostat is required, which is a considerable advantage in itself. In addition to this, the pump 7 in said figure being immersed in the liquid in the tank 6, any wear, leaks, or other defects of the pump make little difference, because the pump can go on performing its regular function without attention for a comparatively long time under such circumstances.

In Figure 1, it will be observed the liquid splashes down through the openings 11 in the pipe 10 onto the combustion chambers, and asses out of the jacket almost immediate y. This causes the said liquid to be rapidly heated, and enables the operator to get the jacket up to a working temperature in a much less time than heretofore. It will further be observed that in both figures, liquid is excluded from both radiator and jacket until a redetermined temperature has been reache in the jacket, and that this temperature may be made almost anything desired within reason. In prior devices, in so far as I am aware, it has not been. possible to exclude the li uid from the jacket until a predetermine temperature is reached, but only from the radiator, Therefore, this invention possesses an advantage over the prior rocedures in that the jacket in this case being entirely empty of liquid, will heat up very-much more rapidly than in the prior cases, due to the fact that metal has a lower specific heat than liquid, and accordingly, the engine can be brought to its operating temperature in a very much shorter interval than has been the case heretofore.

Another advantage that resides in both of these devices is due to the fact that the li uid stored in the tanks 6 and 26 is at su stantially the predetermined temperaturethat is set for the jacket, so that when it is introduced into the jacket it is usually in its warm condition, and especially when the tanks are heat insulated as they are intended to be.

A further advantage possessed by these inventions resides in the fact that each of the valves 15, 32 and 39 may be operated by hand or some of them may be automatically o erated, and others operated by hand. tated in other words, by simply at taching a suitable connection to said valves, and leading said connection to the dash board of an automobile or to the cock-pit of a flying machine, the predetermined tem perature that is to be maintained in the jacket 1 may be changed at will. This is often of considerable advantage when the loads on the engine suddenly increase or decrease, and it is likewise of considerable advantage undcr other circumstances which are well known to those skilled in the art.

Still another advantage in this system rcsides in the fact that the thermostat 33 may be so set for example that its valve 32 will open at 9. hi her temperature than that above disclosed or say at 180 F. while the thermostat 38 may be so set that its valve 39 will open at a lower temperature than that above stated, or, say at F. With such an arrangement of theromstats, the operator may keep the jacket full of Water or other liquid until the temperature falls be low 100 F. when it will be automatically drained into the tank below. On the other hand, the higher setting of the valve 32 will insure that the temperature of the jacket, while the engine is running, will always fall below 180 the moment the jacket liquid drops below said point, for the valve 32 will under all circumstances the engine may be started for operation in the coldest climates, and within a minimum of time.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction, as well as the arrangement of parts, and also the mode of operation of this system,withont departing from the spirit of the invention, and

therefore I do not wish to be limited to the foregoing disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

hat is claimed is:

1. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket; a tank; a radiator; a pump located in said tank; connections between said jacket and radiator; connections between said radiator and tank; connections by which said pump forces liquid from said tank back to said jacket; connections by which said liquid flows from said jacket back to said tank; and a thermostatically controlled valve for governing said last named connection.

2. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket; a tank; a filling means for limiting the level of liquid in said tank; a radiator; a pump located in said tank; connections between said jacket and radiator; connections between sad radiator and tank; connections by which said pump forces liquid from said tank back to said jacket; connections adapted to empty the jacket by which said liquid flows from said jacket back to said tank; and a thermostatically controlled valve for governing said last named connection.

3. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket; :1 pump; a radiator; a tank; means adapted to empty said jacket by which the cooling liquid may be circulated by said pump from said tank into said jacket and back to said tank when the temperature of said liquid is below a predetermined point in order to heat said liquid; and means by which said liquid may be circulated by said pump, when the temperature rises above said point, from said tank into said jacket, through said radiator and back to said tank, in order to cool said liquid.

4: In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket; a pump; a radiator; a tank; means adapted toempty said jacket comprising a thermostatically operated valve by which the cool-' ing liquid may be circulated by said pump from said tank into said jacket and back to said tank when the temperature of said liquid is below a predetermined point in order to heat said liquid; and means by which said liquid may be circulated by said pump, when the temperature rises above said point, from said tank into said jacket, through said radiator and back to said tank, in order to cool said liquid.

5. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination 0 a jacket; a pump; a radiator; a tank of a size to empty said radiator and jacket; meanscomprising a passage from the bottom of said jacket to said tank and a thermostatic valve controlling said passage by which the cooling liquid may be circulated by said pump from said tank into said jacket and back to said tank when the temperature of said liquid is below a predetermined point in order to heat said liquid; and means by which said liquid may be circulated by said pump, when the temperature rises above said point, from said tank into said jacket, through said radiator and back to said tank, in order to cool said liquid.

(5. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket normally empty of liquid when the engine is idle; a radiator also normally empty oi liquid when the engine is idle; a tank; a pump immersed in the liquid contained in said tank; and means by which said pump may circulate liquid from said tank into said jacket and directly back to said tank.

7. In a cooling system for an internal combustion engine, the combination of a jacket normally empty of liquid when the engine is idle; a radiator also normally empty of liquid when the engine is idle; a tank; a pump immersed in the liquid contained in said tank; means adapted to empty said jacket by which said pump may circulate liquid from said tank into said jacket and directly back to said tank when the temperature is below a predetermined point; and means by which said pump may circulate said liquid through said radiator when the temperature is above said predetermined point.

8. The method of maintaining the temperature of the jacket of an internal combustion engine substantially constant, which consists in circulating liquid directly between a tank and a partially empty jacket until a predetermined temperature has been reached; increasing the quantity of said liquid in said jacket after said temperature has been reached; and then circulating said increased quantity of liquid through a cooling device to maintain said temperature substantially constant.

9. The method of maintaining constant the temperature of a jacket of an internal combustion engine, which consists in circulating its cooling liquid through a heating circuit comprising a partially empty jacketl until a predetermined temperature has been reached; increasing the quantity of liquid in said jacket after said temperature has been reached; and then as the increased quantity of liquid continues to heat up, circulating the same through a cooling circuit until it has been cooled down to said predetermined temperature. v

10. The method of maintaining constant the temperature of the jacket of an internal combustion engine, which consists in circle lating its cooling liquid through a heating circuit comprising a partially empty jacket until a predetermined temperature has been reached; increasing the qu ntity of liquid in said jacket after said temperature has been reached; then as-the increased quantity of liquid continues to heat up, circulating the same through a cooling circuit until it has and a thermostatically contro been cboled down to said predetermined temperature; and alternately heating and coolmg said liquid as it falls below and rises above said temperature while the engine is running.

11. In a cooling'system for internal combustion engines comprising a jacket and a radiator connected therewith and adapted to receive a cooling liquid, the combination of a tank, and means comprisin a drain pipe fled valve associted with said tank for automatically draining while the engine is running said radiator and jacket respectively of liquid when the temperature falls below a predetermined degree.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WELLINGTON W. MUIR. 

